p2pnet - rss feed: Senators attack p2p ops
Six Washington senators apparently want p2p companies to "help stop distribution of copyrighted materials and pornography on their networks".
"Purveyors of peer-to-peer technology have a legal and moral obligation to conform to copyright laws, and end the pornographic trade over these networks," they say in a letter quoted in a CNET News story here.
This linkage of p2p with porn was originally mooted by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in an effort to deflect mounting public anger over its brutalization of file sharers through the RIAA’s vicious subpoena campaign.
And it’s an example of astounding hypocrisy.
I slipped this in her drink Now all you gotta do is nibble on this little bitch’s earlobe.. (Yo! This girl’s only fifteen years old You shouldn’t take advantage of her, that’s not fair) Yo, look at her bush.. does it got hair? (Uh huh!) F**k this bitch right here on the spot bare Til she passes out and she forgot how she got there
That’s from Eminem’s Slim Shady LP. His label is Universal, one of the (for the moment) Big Five.
Or how about this from Sony Music’s Man vs. Machine by Xzibit?
She act like she ain’t gon’ survive the night without my d**k all up in her a*s, so quick, so fast / I see her twin towers and I’m ready to crash I don’t want to love, you / I just want to f**k, you / You should bring your friends, through I’ll f**k you and them, too I know it’s hard to talk with all this d**k in your mouth
The CNET report goes on:
"In a letter sent to the heads of several leading companies - including Grokster, BearShare, Blubster, eDonkey2000, LimeWire and Streamcast Networks - a group of six senators called for self-regulation of peer-to-peer software companies.
" ‘Purveyors of peer-to-peer technology have a legal and moral obligation to conform to copyright laws, and end the pornographic trade over these networks,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-N.C., said in a statement. ‘These programs expose our children to sexually explicit materials and provide an anonymous venue for child pornographers to hide behind the veil of technology’."
The record labels are among the worst purveyors of porn to be found anywhere, and their stuff can be bought in stores by anyone of any age at any time. And yet there are no morally offended senators banding together against the RIAA or the recording industry.
CNET doesn’t say who the other five senators are, or where the letter came from. But it says among other things, the group want the companies to:
* Provide clear and conspicuous warnings to users about the legal risks of P2P software;
* Add filters for copyrighted material and pornography to their software; and
* Change the default setting in file-swapping software programs so that users must actively choose to share material with others.
"We strongly believe that voluntarily taking these three common-sense steps would go a long way toward educating and protecting consumers," the group wrote in its letter. "It also would clearly indicate your companies’ desire to become responsible corporate citizens."
The ideas in and of themselves aren’t bad - and many apps already have filters.
In the meanwhile:
* Will the six senators also demand that the labels ‘filter’ their lyrics? And,
* Will they condemn the search engines because they, too, are used to find porn?
